Sydney Blu's Live at Mansion CD release at Mansion July 16

It's no small feat coming up in the cutthroat international DJ game, especially if you're a woman. But Miami-via-Toronto DJ Sydney Blu has defied the odds, becoming one of the biggest-selling artists in electronic music as well as the veritable queen of South Beach clubland.

"I have gotten where I have gotten as a woman because I never looked at myself as a woman. And I never played that card," she says. "If you work hard, people will take you seriously. I hope that maybe some women will follow in my footsteps and get in the studio. It's not about DJing anymore; it's about writing music. I wish more girls would get into that. I think slowly but surely they are."

Even being signed to Deadmau5's prestigious Mau5trap label wasn't enough to contain Blu's globe-spanning ambition. She's launched her own Blu Music imprint. And this Saturday, she'll host the release party for a new Live From Mansion compilation album, out now on Nervous Records. "I wrote this music all last year," she says. "We also thought it would be appropriate to do a Mansion compilation since I moved down here to work with the club and to represent my past year in Miami."